Prolonged drought in the city of Rome has caused Vatican officials to begin turning off 100 fountains as a heatwave hits Italy – this includes two baroque fountains in St Peter’s Square. Vatican spokesperson Greg Burke said that turning off the fountains was, “the Vatican’s way of living in solidarity with Rome, trying to help…
Following the decision of Charlie Gard’s parents to end the legal battle for their critically-ill child to be flown to the US, Catholic Bishops in the UK expressed their sympathy. For almost half a year the baby’s parents fought to have him transferred to the US to undergo specialist treatment. They decided not to continue,…
The US Conference of Catholic Bishops urged the Trump administration to “ensure permanent protection” for young people brought to the US as minors without legal documentation. Chair of the Migration Committee, Bishop Joe Vasquez of Texas, reiterated the bishops’ support for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a 2012 policy which gives recipients a…
US pro-life organisations have filed a federal lawsuit to halt the enforcement of a new law in Hawaii that requires pregnancy centres to “advertise” contraception and abortion services. Attorneys for Alliance Defending Freedom, a non-profit and pro-life legal group that supports religious freedom filed the suit. They acted on behalf of a centre called A…
Catholic women in Zambia have been described as the “heartbeat” of parishes by the President of the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops. Archbishop Mpundu thanked women for their active role in the Church, saying: “Women are the heartbeat of our parishes and the church in general, without them, the Church would be dead.” He spoke…
Pope Francis responds to nine-year-old’s pilgrimage invitation An Italian boy called Andrea invited the Pope to join him and other children on a “Pilgrimage of Joy” to the Marian Shrine of Loreto Italy. The nine-year-old was so moved by his experience that he asked the Pontiff to join him next year. Pope Francis replied: “Thanks…
Inés San Martín Days after time ran out for the priests of an entire Nigerian diocese to write and apologise for having refused to accept their bishop for the past five years, Pope Francis, through some of his closest advisers, has begun to respond to each of them. “The Pope promised he would write back,…
Dear Editor, I read with interest the account of Archbishop Diarmuid Martin’s analysis of the state of the Catholic Church in modern Ireland and his many solutions that would improve the situation (IC 13/07/2017). While many of them have been put forward in the past 40-50 years, very few of them yielded the much longed…
Lt Col. Mary Carroll and Sgt Major Fintan Lambe present Sr Colette of Galway’s Poor Clare Sisters with a hand- carved crucifix from Bethlehem as an expression of thanks from the 54th Infantry Group UNDOF for the sisters’ promise of prayers when they left last year for a peace keeping mission in the Golan Heights.
Walkers from Belfast, Derry and Dublin arrive at Knock Shrine for the annual Cursillo Peace Pilgrimage, which has taken place for over 30 years. This year 260 pilgrims walked to the shrine as a pilgrimage for ‘Peace in Our Hearts, in our Homes and in Our Country and the World’. Photo: Sinéad Mallee